Friday, September 04, 2009

I have officially completed an hour long yoga class for the first time, and it feels good. The class only had 7 people in it including me, so there was a nice, intimate feel to the proceedings. I met Sophia the instructor prior to the class, and informed her that I was a neophyte, and she said it would be no problem at all. She told me to simply follow her instructions, and if that was not sufficient, I should just watch her, which certainly sounded easy enough..but it was not.

Once class began, it was painfully obvious that I was the sole yoga beginner in the class. When the instructor would call out poses and positions to everyone else, they would immediately hit them. When I heard the poses I'd say, "what the f**k" in my head and then I would watch the instructor and attempt to mimic her. Any notion that I was doing a good job was quickly corrected, when Sophia would come over to me and move my hips, arms and legs into the correct pose. This went on the whole class, but I did not get frustrated or angry. I was in relax mode. The only pose that I absolutely could not hit was towards the end, when she asked us to lay down, lift our legs up, hold our back, and hit a pose like this. Now everyone else in the class, including the two other men, hit this pose like they did this everyday in their sleep. My attempt to hit this pose was so futile that at one point, I just laughed out loud, totally disrupting the tranquil atmosphere. The good thing is, at the end of the class, Sophia gave me an alternative pose to hit next time that is just as effective for less flexible folks like myself. Eventually though, I want to hit that original pose..there is also someone else I'd like to get in that pose as well.

So I have no complaints about the class, the other participants or the instructor. It was a totally positive, relaxing experience, and I will definitely partake in this next week and beyond. Well I do have one minor complaint, and that is the other class members staring at my feet. I have no problems admitting that my feet are jacked, and at various points during the class, I caught my classmates looking at them incredulously. I wanted to yell out, "Yeah, and?" but again I was in relax mode, and the only alternative to not wearing socks is to wear socks with traction, and that is just not happening. I'll just have to get over it.

Since Michael Jackson died, I have been gradually rediscovering songs of his that I either hadn't listened to in awhile, or I had just plain forgotten about. Today's song that fits that description can be seen below. At the 1:18 mark of this video, MJ realizes his zipper is down and he stops singing, smiles, zips it back up, and then resumes the song all one swift motion. Very smooth.

4 comments:

Jazzbrew said...

I have to admit, I was looking forward to this blog entry like the Monday episode of Young and the Restless. Sounds like it was pretty smooth and that's good. I've been doing yoga consistently for about 1 year now and I love it.

rashad said...

So jazzbrew, have you hit that pose yet?

Sab D said...

Man ... I can do that pose. But I can not sit on top of my calves with my knees bent to the floor. Man, I be wobbling and types of mess. But yoga is still the truth

TM said...

They have yoga socks. You should invest in a pair if you plan to continue with the classes.

http://www.gaiam.com/product/yoga-studio/yoga-props/other-yoga-props-equipment/no+slip+yoga+socks.do